EU Holds Back on Signing Climate Action Pledge With China (reuters.com) 16
The European Union is holding back on signing a joint climate action pledge with China at a summit this month to mark a half-century of diplomatic ties, a top climate official told the Financial Times in remarks published on Monday. Reuters: The EU's climate targets are among the world's most ambitious, but they have been based entirely on domestic emissions cuts. Now the bloc faces a mid-September deadline to submit a new 2035 climate target to the United Nations.
Brussels has refused Beijing's repeated requests for a mutual climate commitment after the summit of the world's second- and third-largest economies, unless China promises to do more to cut greenhouse gas emissions, EU officials said. "There is only merit in having a declaration from our perspective if there are also content nuts to be cracked and ambition to be displayed," Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra told the paper.
Brussels has refused Beijing's repeated requests for a mutual climate commitment after the summit of the world's second- and third-largest economies, unless China promises to do more to cut greenhouse gas emissions, EU officials said. "There is only merit in having a declaration from our perspective if there are also content nuts to be cracked and ambition to be displayed," Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra told the paper.
But China is the world leader here (Score:5, Interesting)
Here's a good source from the World Economic Forum. It notes the complexities and fragility of the decrease, but also shows the underlying path which lead to it. Their renewal energy capacity grew faster than their demand and interestingly, their demand was rising at a higher than average level just across for fifteen years.
The EU? Not so much. Energy sector is moving forward with a 2.9% drop, but outside that sector emissions are rising [energyandcleanair.org]. The UK has a 3.6% drop, with coal in particular back to Medieval times [carbonbrief.org] and peak demand having passed over a decade ago [wikipedia.org].
The EU is playing politics here, nothing real. It is the EU that would struggle to live up to the example of China in the energy sector.
Re: (Score:3)
I was in Shenzhen a few months ago.
About half the cars are EVs, and 100% of the motorcycles are electric.
There are solar panels on almost every building.
The air was clean and the sky was blue.
Not every city in China is at the level of Shenzhen, but the progress is amazing.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm also confused what is going on here, though I was thinking more about the renewable energy side of it, not the electric car stuff. There must be some loaded language in the declaration?
However, the way China is building up the renewable energy capacity it looks like "Yuugen Jikkou" to me. That's actually a Japanese/Romaji version of a 4-character Chinese/Japanese expression that can't be used on Slashdot anyway. I'm not sure if there is a way to say it in English. "All talk, no action" is kind of the op
Re: (Score:2)
But if you actually look at how the electricity they use is generated, the percentage of it that comes from coal is going down [ourworldindata.org].
Re: (Score:2)
the percentage of it that comes from coal is going down
Which is irrelevant if the amount that comes from coal is increasing, just more slowly than from other sources. The result is that China's contribution to global warming is growing, rather than shrinking. That has to be accepted from an emerging economy. But whether China should continue to be indulged as an emerging economy is an open question.
Re: (Score:3)
This makes no sense at all to me.
it does:
The EU is playing politics here, nothing real.
that's all the sense it's supposed to make, and it's still nonsensical politics at that. these are a bunch of non-elected aristocratic and entitled dipshits and know-nothings who only care about their careers, and are now running around like headless chickens seeing how their house of cards, daddy's empire, is collapsing. and we europeans are clueless and oblivious sheep on our way to the slaughterhouse; possibly even not in a metaphorical way. tbf, i don't think you guys in the uk have it much bet
Re: (Score:2)
China has built phenomenal amounts of renewal power and their emissions peaked this year, with a modest (1%) decline. Here's a good source from the World Economic Forum. It notes the complexities and fragility of the decrease, but also shows the underlying path which lead to it.
Sounds interesting. You forgot to paste the link, could you post it?
Re: (Score:3)
Indeed, China hit its agreed Paris target 5 years ahead of schedule. The EU is struggling to stay on track with its. If there is any lack of ambition, it's on the EU side.
It's really sad that the UK has dropped its Green New Deal ideas as somehow "unaffordable". They boost the economy, they don't cost anything. Borrowing to invest, with a massive pay back of several times what was put in.
Re: (Score:2)
There are pushes on heat pumps as well. In fact I had a worry with the original Green New Deal that it had basically been hijacked by lobbyists to concentrate too much on carbon capture, allowing them to carry on burning stuff but still claim the money from the deal. The EV mandate is on track regardless of the lobbying to sof [theguardian.com]
Re: (Score:2)
I just hope that it is properly enforced and there aren't loopholes. I know someone who bought a new house with so solar, and it was literally one 250W panel.
I also read abut someone who bought a new build with an EV charger, only to discover that it wasn't wired to her house, but instead to some extremely expensive service. Last I heard she was trying to get the developer to remove it and install one connected to her home, but it was curb side so I don't know if it was possible or not.
Around here a load of
Waste of time (Score:3)
2035 ??? are they for real?
Without major intervention now, by 2035 we're likely to breach ~1.6–1.8C warming, with escalating extreme weather, melting ice, and climate tipping risks.
To stay on a 1.5C trajectory, global emissions need to drop by ~57% by 2035—but current policies are headed in the opposite direction .
Yet the truth is that were already at ~1.6 C .. still more time and energy wasted on studies and conferences that lead nowhere and only tell us what we already know .... Were basing government policy now on lies , propaganda and greenwash.....
The truth is we are already seeing mass displacement of people and multiple breadbasket failures just as was forecast in 2019 or earlier - yet
Arctic sea ice is forecast to see glacierfree Septembers at least once by ~2035
Permafrost thaw, wildfire intensification (e.g., Canada’s record fires), and disruption of ocean currents are increasing faster than projections predicted .
climate “tipping points” (e.g., Greenland ice sheet melt, coral dieoff) may be reached between 1.5–2C, now increasingly likely before midcentury .
2035 my arse
Re: (Score:2)
Why make a deal with China? (Score:1, Insightful)
It appears to me that China isn't the kind of nation that can be trusted to hold up their end of any deals. China has a history of playing games on international trade agreements, violations of international waters, not respecting intellectual property, and more I'm certainly forgetting.
When it comes to lowering CO2 emissions I see plenty about how China is expanding their use of wind and solar power but little to nothing about nuclear fission. This is especially odd with half of the new civil nuclear pow
Re: (Score:2)
Haha, coming from the USA, which is now violating its free trade agreements with Canada, Mexico, Australia and Korea, just off the top of my head. There's more chance China will uphold their end of a deal at this point.